Quantitative Estimation of the Groundwater Content
of Caspian Sediments

V. P. Zverev, O. Yu. Varvanina, and I. A. Kostikova

Institute of Environmental Geoscience, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

Received November 3, 1997

Abstract—The thick sedimentary cover of the Caspian Basin is shown to contain a large amount of chemically
and physically bound and free groundwater with a total mass of 11.9 10²⁰ g, of which the latter two groups
account for 7.4 10²⁰ g. This is an order of magnitude greater than the water mass of the Caspian Sea (0.78
10²⁰ g). This water is mostly concentrated in the Southern Caspian Basin (5.3 10²⁰ g).